The Big 5 - Animals and Personality

Going on safari is all about seeing the Big 5 – lion, rhino, cheetah, buffalo and elephant. However, to a personality psychologist, the Big 5 also represents the taxonomy (theory) of personality. So here I was, deep in Big 5 country, constantly being reminded of my work; it was a weird feeling. Every time I saw one of the Big 5 I subconsciously made a link to the “personality” of the animal. Yes, even in the African bush it’s impossible to get away from work!

The Big 5 is now universally accepted as the explanation of our personality make-up. Any psychological assessment worth its weight will be based on this theory. Underneath each of the Big 5 personality dimensions sits six sub facets. So in essence, our personality is made up of 30 different attributes.

When doing psychological profiling for selection and, or development it is usually not necessary to capture the total personality of the candidate or employee. Most personality profiling instruments range from testing just the Big 5 to upwards of 15 or more personality attributes.

CLUES is a good acrimony for the 5 personality dimensions (another is OCEAN) - hence the reason our popular pre-screening assessment is called PeopleCLUES. Let’s take a very quick look at the Big 5 dimensions of personality:

C = Conscientiousness
Conscientiousness measures how good people are at setting goals and sticking to them. High scorers are disciplined, efficient and systematic. In most occupations high scores in conscientiousness is advantageous. In fact this score explains the biggest variance of performance in most occupations.

People who score low are more likely to get distracted from tasks, be poor at planning and succumbed to weaknesses of the will. However, low and high scores are neither good nor bad, it very much depends on the job role. In fact, an excess of conscientious scores could point to a compulsive personality disorder.

L = Likability
Likeability is a dimension of empathy towards others. High scorers are often found in caring professions like nursing and counselling. They have larger than average social networks and their relationships with others are harmonious.

By contrast, the very low scorers are sociopaths; they callously used others for their own ends. However, moderately low scores are not all that bad; they usually explain a person that is prepared to be hard-headed and driven. Whereas high scorers tend to fall into the category of nice guys that really do finish last. Many of our leaders and successful artists score low on likability.

U = Unconventional
The unconventional trait explains imagination. High scorers tend to go beyond normal logic. They are often keen on poetry and art and gravitate to esoteric ideas. They tend to be more aesthetic. Extreme scores could identify eccentrics, people with delusional beliefs and those who find it difficult to solve simple practical problems.

Low scorers can be very intelligent and capable, however they will orientate towards the practical and the soluble. Neither, high nor low scores are inherently desirable; it's a simple matter of harnessing the strengths that you have.

E = Extroversion/Introversion
You don't need to do a personality assessment to understand if you are introverted or extroverted; you know. High scorers are fun seeking and cheerful; they are often ambitious and hard-working. They love being the centre of attention.

Low scorers are not necessarily shy, so much as aloof; they can take or leave success, praise or pleasure. The best way to think about this dimension is in terms of response to reward. The strengths of high scorers are energy, charisma and drive, whilst weaknesses include a tendency to get bored, restlessness, infidelity, and risky decisions.

The strengths of low scorers include detachment, prudence and fidelity. The weaknesses include not trusting themselves to move forward, not having fun, and having a flat emotional tone.

Once again there is no perfect score. In fact the research from my master’s thesis discounted the old myth that sales success was the domain of extroverts. Introverts can also be successful in sales because they talk less and listen more!

S = Stress Tolerance
Sometimes described as emotional stability, low scorers are usually prone to anxiety, stress and disappointment, whereas high scorers tend to gravitate towards deep thought, detailed analysis and novel insights. High scores care about the details that others can't be bothered to follow up on. Many high scorers are academics or writers.

Research conclusively proves the value of personality testing for "job fit". Personality identifies "how" a person will do the job. The candidate may have all the knowledge and experience in the world, but if their personality does not "fit" the job or organisation you will have issues that will lead to poor performance.

Whilst in Africa, every time I saw one of the Big 5 I tried to link the animal to one of the Big 5 personality dimensions, an exercise that proved fruitless – although this has been done with other animals, like breeds of dogs! 

The best I got from the coincidental link between the Big 5s was a spark of an idea for this article – I hope you enjoyed it!